One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
As I was growing up, my mother instructed me that, when I got angry or frustrated, to count to ten before saying anything. Quite honestly, I’ve counted to ten ten-times over. I’ve bitten my tongue and clenched my teeth and I’ve really tried to let it go.
And now, I just can’t help myself any longer.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve read too many blog posts (notice how we don’t call them “stories” any more?) filled with invective, passed-along assumptions, and outright misinformation that I can’t help but to call into question the standard of “reporting” going on in the echo-chamber we call the blogosphere.
When in a twitter I bemoaned the lack of original reporting (only one reporter (cnet) and exactly zero bloggers writing this week about this silly DEMO v TechCrunch episode actually contacted me), the infamous blogger Robert Scoble suggested that if I’d blog my opinion, he’d link to it. Does that mean that a perspective only exists or matters if it’s expressed in a blog post? Or that Robert’s just moving too fast to do any investigation outside his narrow medium?
Scoble’s not the only guy living in the rarefied air of the echo-chamber. Sarah Lacy, who works for the much-respected Businessweek.com, conducted a five-minute video interview with TC50′s Mike Arrington and Jason Calacanis, during which the two leveled the usual slander. Did Lacy fire one tough question at the two? Did this journalist call me or the DEMO organization to get a response to serious accusations? Um, the answer to that would be “no.”
In fact, a few weeks ago, when Mike Arrington wrote an assumption-based and error-filled story that demanded an apology from the DEMO organization for a comment that was clearly not made by or on behalf of anyone at DEMO, Lacy picked up the story and wrote with righteous indignation that slander was the highest insult that could be leveled against a journalist. Did she call me or DEMO before posting her story? Again no.
Let me be clear: plagiarism is not the worst offense of a journalist; its root cause is: Laziness, shoddy reporting, and arrogance.
In a post last week, Scoble tried to make a case for the “new school” as more hip, effective, and informative than the “old school.” When misinformation is propagated out of laziness and inconsideration, that’s hardly informative. It’s not “new school;” it’s No School.
Robert Scoble took the time – it must have taken at least 30 minutes to click through to each of the 72 sites – to visit the Web sites of DEMOfall’s demonstrating companies. Here’s what he had to say:
I just visited every one of these companies. Boy do they almost all suck (at least their Web sites and if their sites suck, I can’t believe their products are going to do much better).
Now this is the same guy who, earlier in the same piece said that if I “really cared about the startups” I would have taken the time to put links in a post about them. Okay, our bad, in the rush to publish the list of DEMOfall companies, we posted the URLs of the companies, but didn’t link them. But seriously, if I cared about startups, I’d be sure there were links in my stories for the convenience of Robert and other bloggers? This from the guy who cared enough about startups to spend maybe 30 seconds looking at a pre-release Web site before declaring that the company and its products “suck.” Now there’s critical thinking and thoughtful review.
Listen, I’m not just picking on Scoble or Lacy. This shoot-from-the-lip blogging has been going on far too long. And maybe I can’t really blame guys like Scoble who now stoop to the lowest and simplest form of “criticism” in an effort to attract legions of followers. Those of us who care about civilized discourse and critical thinking carry the burden if we don’t stand up to the bully tactics. If we engage in invective as sport and don’t demand even the slightest semblance of balance, then maybe we get what we deserve: a pack of school yard bullies who believe theirs is the definitive voice in the “conversation.”
They’re better than that. We’re all better than that. Let’s start acting like it.
[...] Demo vs. TechCrunch? Who cares! The biggest real news this week is likely to come from the CTIA’s Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show in San Francisco, where WiMax services in the U.S. are likely to get a big boost if the keynote speakers come through with some real meat. [...]
[...] 大方のプレスはこれを理解しているが、DEMOの主催者であるChris Shipleyは、自分たちのビジネスモデルがついに疑問視され始めたことについて、キレそうになったらしい。 [...]
It’s about time more people start to call BS on Arrington, Scoble, and Lacy. Calling themselves “journalists” is a joke. I’m not saying that mainstream media is leaps and bounds better, but you are so justified in saying that these three, among others, report on rumor, opinion, and gossip just to fatten their own wallets. Then, when they get called on it, they hide behind the “journalist” shield.
- Arrington et. al. thrive on rumor mongering (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/04/more-defections-at-google/)
- Scoble’s interview style is to interrupt his subjects and talk over them (see his interview of Marc Benioff)
- Lacy thinks that her friendship with Zuckerberg will carry her career (um, see ANY interview she’s done…)
More people need to point out their lack of integrity, professionalism, and accomplishments. It’s about time someone called them on it. They aren’t journalists, they just write diary entries.
[...] Here’s Chris Shipley’s Response [...]
Rivalry & Zero Understanding of What Startups Need…
If you’re a start-up, here’s the names of two people you should consider ignoring: Mike Arrington and Chris Shipley. Avoid their blogs unless you appreciate what they are there to do. Do not attend their events unless you understand how nobody cares …
[...] of the press gets this, even though DEMO organizer Chris Shipley sounds like she’s about to blow a fuse over the fact that their business model is finally being [...]
I concur. First off let me say I am a journalist and not a blogger. Over the past year I have found bloggers, especially the anonymous ones I come across, to write error filled stories, rely on one source to make highly critical statements without obtaining the other side’s response to accusations. Maybe it is a David v. Goliath thing. These bloggers I come across feel they are taking on the establishment and therefore have no need to verify if the allegations raised are truths or half-truths. There are plenty of bloggers I read who make it clear they are writing their viewpoints, based on the best available information (often taken from the print media). These folks tend to have a good insight and often raise important questions that often we in the print media overlook. But the bloogers I read who pass themselves off as “journalists” only to use their blogs to vent, attack, or publish questionable material…they are no different than the…stuff we can watch on many of the 24-hour cable “news” shows–lacking substance,balance and any critical analysis.
Lazy and shoddy reporting is not limited to blog “journalists” who are more known for linking than actually creating. The death of Tim Russert shows how few competent journalists are. Watch Meet the Press now and you will not see any hard-hitting follow-up questions to the hosts first question. This is not due to “bias” but rather lack of preparation. Tim would spend the week researching the guests and preparing follow-up questions to every conceivable answer he thought the guest may have. Meet the Press (now just-another-sunday-talk-show) is only one example of this.
But yes, in the blogosphere you have this trait AND the whole linking to links form of “reporting”, and *course* you will encounter the example you talk about above.
I know it may not help to say, “I know how you feel,” but I will say it. About three months ago, we purchased the domain http://www.digitalsignage.com and immediately we placed a joomla template on the site and started blogging and doing inbound linking while we built the actual site. Consequently we are still building the site and targeting the key words, “digital signage.” We’ve a lot of plans for the site as we move forward, but right now we’ve just placed a news feed on it as well as a blog. That is all that is there currently and I had some industry “experts” jump all over that.
In fact, when I started even indicating I would do some type of digital signage directory, I got this response as an email which I decided to post:
http://natenead.com/youll-shove-the-lawyer-where/
Shortly after I threw up the template, daily digital out of home posted this:
http://www.dailydooh.com/archives/2273
Interestingly I believe there are several reasons people write such inflammatory responses. The first one is: it gets them attention. I think this is the most important. By saying something mean, everyone will read it and it’ll get a lot of attention and drive traffic. Often it’s just a simple SEO tactic. Plus, it’s much easier to say something mean-spirited behind closed doors where there’s really no human interaction than it is to say it to your face. Second, I think you’ve done a descent amount of work already and you got someone’s attention who has a bit of influence. They’re probably a bit miffed at the competition. I know that’s the case in our situation. They’re afraid of you.
Sometimes it’s just better to take the high road. After painstaking effort, I decided not to respond to Adrian Cotterill of daily dooh. Either way, I’ll keep up with your blog as I’m interested in the things ya’ll are doing. Keep up the work.
I intend to “speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Nate Nead
http://digitalsignage.com
Shirley would be proud.
[...] companies presenting at Demo, not about the Demo conference. And the team never wavered from this. Chris Shipley’s post from a few days before the Demo Conference began put this into perspective. And we really were [...]
[...] The blogosphere has erupted into a near riot after Robert Scoble’s “companies launching at DEMO suck” series of blog [...]
[...] Pointing out that these sights suck has gotten me quite a few harsh words in the past few hours. None harsher than Chris Shipley’s post in reply. [...]
[...] Chris Shipley, who now runs the Demo Conference, wrote a very long post saying basically that I suck. I’ll answer that in a future [...]
[...] of the press gets this, even though DEMO organizer Chris Shipley sounds like she’s about to blow a fuse over the fact that their business model is finally being [...]
[...] bien todo esto, aunque Chris Shipley, la organizadora de DEMO, habla como si estuviera a punto de disparar contra aquellos que finalmente cuestionan su modelo de [...]
[...] Here is one from Chris Shipley who says she has had it with the shoddy reporting, invective and arrogance that has attended most of the commentary. The following are some quotes from her post at: http://guidewiregroup.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/shoddy-reporting-invective-and-arrogance-yeah-i-want-... [...]